Free-floating Diplomacy

March 04, 1985

Nicaragua`s President Daniel Ortega described as ``frank and very direct`` his two-hour closed-door meeting with Joseph Cardinal Bernardin and four other American Catholic bishops. He expressed hope for more such meetings with American church leaders.

This sounds hopeful, but it must leave professional diplomats somewhat at a loss. The bishops visiting Central America do not fit into normal diplomatic or church categories. They obviously do not speak for the U.S. government, nor do they represent the Vatican. They are trying to help the church in Nicaragua coexist with the Marxist government, but have no very specific authority to do even that. So how does one classify them? What, if anything, can they accomplish?

If the bishops have an advantage, it is that their role is hard to define. They represent a kind of free-floating diplomacy that is not tied down to any government or official policy, but is aimed simply at preventing violence. Their function is not to work the machinery of diplomacy, but just to keep it lubricated.

In Nicaragua, that could be useful. There is not much chance of dialogue between Sandinista officials and church leaders like Managua`s Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo, who accuses the Marxist government of harassing the church and censoring his broadcast homilies. But the five U.S. bishops said they discussed church-related concerns with Mr. Ortega ``without rancor and without criticism.``

Of course, it may also be without results. But the bishops` role in Central America is not to reach agreements; at most they can make it easier for others to reach them. So far they seem to be succeeding at that.